Unique Finds Discovered during the Construction of the Struma Motorway are Presented at the National Exhibition Bulgarian Archeology 2017

Unique archeological finds discovered last year during the construction of the Struma Motorway are part of the exhibits at the national exhibition Bulgarian Archeology 2017. The exhibition shall be opened on 16 February at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

At the exhibition which will last until 1^st April, you can see finds which were discovered during the exploration of the prehistoric village near the village of  Damyanitsa which is one of the largest on the Balkan Peninsula (from the second half of the VI century to the beginning of the IV century BC). The construction of Lot 3.3 of Struma Motorway concerns around 49% of it and during the last year a comprehensive exploration was carried out over 90 acres of land.

The flourishing of the village near Damyanitsa was at the end of the Late Neolithic and during this period painted ceramics were widespread. The visitors of the exhibition can see valuable ceramics from the Late Neolithic period, a marble bowl, a copper ax and other artefacts.

There are also finds that were discovered during the archaeological excavations of the other two important sites along the route of the Struma Motorway – near the villages of Pokrovnik and Moshtanets, near Blagoevgrad – part of lot 3.1. Among the artefacts found were a bronze stamp from IV century and a bronze top of a votive stick in the shape of a bird from IV-V century. They are from the rescue archaeological excavations at the Shirinite area, opposite Blagoevgrad, where a village from the Roman Imperial era and Late Antiquity was found. A bronze fibula (a type of belt buckle) from II century and a bronze clasp from IV century are among the finds which were discovered during the excavations near the village of Moshtanets. Late Roman and Early Iron Age structures were studied.

During the last year, the Road Infrastructure Agency provided around BGN 4.5 million VAT incl. for carrying out archaeological excavations along the route of Struma Motorway.

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